2008-09 NBA Schedule is Official
Give that man “The Precious”* Opening Night is Oct. 28, featuring a national TV doubleheader: Celtics/Cavs, where Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and crew get their rings and unveil banner #17, followed by Blazers/Lakers and Greg Oden’s first game (don’t forget Jerryd Bayless and Rudy Fernandez, too).
* Christmas Day has four national TV games: Magic/Hornets, Spurs/Suns, Wizards/Cavs, and Blazers/Mavs.
* The first Chris Paul/Deron Williams head-to-head is Jan. 7 in Utah. CP and Deron play each other three times next season.
* Derrick Rose makes his pro debut on Oct. 28 at home against the Bucks. His next game is a national TV date with the Celtics on Halloween. Rose’s first head-to-head with O.J. Mayo is on Nov. 1 in Chicago, he gets Mike Beasley on Dec. 26 in Miami, and starting Dec. 13 Rose embarks on a six-game stretch that’ll have him going up against Devin Harris, Ray Felton, Baron Davis, Deron Williams and Chauncey Billups.
* Beasley (and the new-look D-Wade) debuts on the biggest stage possible, at MSG against the Knicks on Oct. 29. The first Beasley/Kevin Durant meeting is on Dec. 6 in Miami. Beasley gets his first “Welcome to the NBA” run earlier, a four-game stretch of Emeka Okafor, Elton Brand, Tim Duncan and David West that starts on Nov. 1.
* LeBron travels to New Jersey for the first time on Nov. 18, then New York on Nov. 25. Take a guess what everyone will be talking about then.
* After some summer roster-switching, the Warriors and Clippers meet up for the first time on Nov. 15 at Staples. Baron Davis returns to the Bay on Jan. 25. What kind of reception will he get from the GS crowd?
* Kobe gets his first chance to show Baron who runs Staples on Oct. 29, a home game for the Clippers, then again on Nov. 5 when the court will be purple and gold.
* Mike D’Antoni and the Knicks go to Phoenix on Dec. 15, where he’ll reunite with Steve Nash and the gang. Assuming D’Antoni hasn’t quit by then.
* Meanwhile, the Suns open the season on a TOUGH stretch: at San Antonio, then home for the Hornets and Blazers, then immediately followed by a four-game Eastern road swing. Shaq returns to Miami on March 4, and gets to tell Kobe to taste his ass in-person on Dec. 20 in Phoenix. And how loudly will Diesel get booed when he visits Kobe’s house on Dec. 10?
* Yi vs. Yao Part III is Dec. 22 in Jersey. Part IV is Feb. 17 in H-town.
* Allen Iverson goes back to Philly on Feb. 18, where he could be getting a first-hand look at a Sixers team that’s significantly better than his Denver squad.
* Houston’s new Big Three (T-Mac, Yao, Artest) makes its debut Oct. 29 at home against Memphis, and gets their first real test the next night at Dallas in a national TV game. Hurry and catch ‘em while they’re all standing upright.
August 6th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
bleedingfinger says:
I’ll tell you what kind of reception Davis will get when he returns to the bay. Remember a few years back when Bobby Sura got booed every time he touched the ball? It’ll be like that x 10. The boo’s will be loud and often.
August 6th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
mike says:
what about when the raps play @ Indiana, see how JO gets treated when he goes back healthy and busting people up..
August 6th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
Tbeezy says:
I’m pretty sure the Lakers play the Celtics on Christmas Day. 2 PM Eastern on ABC.
August 6th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
Big V says:
Tbeezy is right, but the game’s at 5pm. From NBA.com:
“ABC introduces its NBA game coverage with a Dec. 25 doubleheader. At 2:30 p.m. ET, the Suns and Spurs tip off in Phoenix, while the second game features the first meeting between last season’s Finals participants as the Celtics travel to Staples Center to take on the Lakers at 5 p.m. ET.”
August 6th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
Luigi says:
YESSIRRR!
FINALLY OUR FIRST XMAS GAME IN A LONGGG ASS TIME!
finally we can showcase Agent Zero to go from Superstar..to ELITE!
oh n hopefully LeBron messes up or somethin or atleast makes a poster out of Deshawn!
August 6th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
Brado says:
@Dimemag…
Sometime during this next season you should do a split face cover of D-Will & CP3 using the whole “there can only be one” slogan. Do it mid-season after they had a chance to battle but leaving battle yet to egage in.
August 6th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
Big V says:
They should have Knicks-Bulls on X-mas……alas, those were the days……….
August 6th, 2008 at 2:28 pm
Tha Boddy says:
Wiz/Cavs Show down on X-Mas…get your popcorn
August 6th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
shake&bake says:
Shit I still have to wait 2.5 months. I can’t handle anymore baseball or Brett Favre on SportsCenter. At least football is starting soon to hold me over. Go Raiders!
August 6th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
miamiVIS3 says:
In non marquee games the Heat’s home opener is against Sacremento WTF! although they do close the season against the Pistons and play the Bulls the day after Xmas but although Magic/Hornets is a good matchup they Heat/Bulls should’ve kicked of Christmas and I’m happy the heat don’t open on the first day because that’s a pretty good lineup.
August 6th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
Austin Burton says:
My bad, totally blanked on the Lakers/Celtics game.
@shake — Are the Raiders supposed to be good this year? I don’t wanna see JaMarcus and McFadden get lit up too much. Whatever happened to Robert Gallery?
August 6th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
Paris Hilton says:
That’s HOT!
August 6th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
Celts Fan says:
@AB, Robert Gallery became a guard (in other words, officially became a bust of a top 5 pick.)
The Raiders are supposed to be solid. They shored up the D, got more weapons, and if Javon Walker is into it/healthy, they could be a sleeper. They seem like as good a contender as anyone to be that 1 team that pops up “out of no where” to get into the Playoffs.
and yes, if I hear 1 more thing about Brett Favre, I may be going to jail for trying to burn down ESPN.
Back to basketball…
August 6th, 2008 at 3:08 pm
Celts Fan says:
Christmas should be fun. Not only have I not seen my team on Christmas, but against Kobe and the Lakers? I have a feeling Kobe’s gonna put on a show. Between the Finals, the Nat’l TV/holiday stage, and the Pierce comments, expect 40+. Kinda pumped it’s in LA so I can watch w/ the fam and still have a normal Christmas too…
August 6th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
JarrJohnson says:
Nuggets first 5 games:
10/29 @ Utah
10/31 @ Clippers (Camby’s gonna try and go nutz)
11/1 Lakers @ home
11/5 @ Golden State
11/7 @ Dallas
This is gonna be a long a– year….
August 6th, 2008 at 3:20 pm
shake&bake says:
Good analysis Celts Fan. I’m excited to see McFadden and Russell in the same backfield.
In the basketball world, I’m excited to see what D-Rose can do against the good young PG’s in the league (CP3, Deron) since there are some people making him the next in line. I hope he turns out to be at least close to as good as those 2.
August 6th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
Adam says:
Did anyone else notice the games on Feb. 27th and April 15th being played at neutral arenas? For instance, the Hawks and Grizzlies play at MSG in NY on April 15th and the Hawks play Miami in Boston on Feb. 27th. I haven’t read anything about it on nba.com or espn.com, but if you go through the schedules at each team’s website, they all have a neutral arena listed for the April 15th games, and some teams have them for the Feb. 27th games.
http://www.nba.com/hawks/schedule
http://www.nba.com/grizzlies/schedule
Or check out the warriors and suns playing in LA:
http://www.nba.com/suns/schedule
http://www.nba.com/warriors/schedule
August 6th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
doc says:
E-A-G-L-E-S-EAGLES!
August 6th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
rlf says:
you totally blanked on the game that’s going to bring the highest rating for abc?…celtics vs. lakers at STAPLES. funny, the celtics are the champs and they have to travel on x-mas day to play against the lakers in l.a
August 6th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
doc says:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xz69y_1er-match-de-drobinson-au-csp-33-sport
August 6th, 2008 at 6:00 pm
Austin Burton says:
@rlf — Yep. Probably ’cause it was already mentioned in Smack so it didn’t seem new anymore. Or I was just distracted by my daytime court shows.
August 6th, 2008 at 6:06 pm
Luigi says:
okay since when does the NFL have 2 do wif the NBA Sched.?
but i like the sched, whatever the way the wizards get to the playoffs is fine with me
Go Skins!. our team gonna be slept on this year. bkuz they expect a 4th place finish. Jim Zorns gonna be a hella of a coach n JC will have a breakout year. [i hope]
but if all goes wrong like i expect…[Skins] JC will get injured n then TC gets injured…then COLT BRENNAN!!!! BOIII! lol
my skins will finish 7-9 or 8-8. n my wiz will finish around 40-45 wins
REPRESENT DC!
August 6th, 2008 at 6:34 pm
it aint easy being green says:
im lookin forward to the cavs/wiz on xmas day almost as much as my boys in green doin the damn thing to la again. hey arenas, tell me how lebron’s ass tastes.
August 6th, 2008 at 6:35 pm
it aint easy being green says:
oh yea, go vikings. favres lame.
August 6th, 2008 at 10:06 pm
Tha Boddy says:
People forget Agent Zero “DMV Hero” is gunning for the Cavs and Lebron won’t guard him and Caron without the need for 50%offense on him will be able to calm down Lebron just abit more…Jamison will destroy the person who guards him
August 7th, 2008 at 2:46 am
jr says:
I’ll be there 2 watch a.i. feb 18 we still love him in PHILLY